St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-11-02
A Solitary Sailor Left to Tell
the Tale Of the Vepnon's
Loss.
Before His Rescue He Passed
Sixty Hours on a Frail
Raft.
His Companions Died One by
One and He Also Nearly
PepiShed.
Eight Lives Lost by an Explo-
sion at st. Louis--Other
Casualties.

STURGEON BAY, Wis, Nov. 1.-The
| schooner S. b. POmerOy passed here to-
day with Alfred Stone, one of the fire.
men of the Inflated steamer Vernon.
He was picked up last night eight miles
from ShebOygan on raft. A dead body
was found on the raft with him, sup
posed to be another fireman. Stone
says he awOke as the boat was sinking
and jumped through window and
found the life raft with six persons on
it. He says there were fifty people on
board. When he jumped into the water
there were people scattered around in
life preservers. He saw the life raft
on the crest of wave and succeeded in
reaching it. The ice-cOld water dashed
over the raft, chilling and freezing every
one on it. One by one they succumbed
and were swept off by the waves. Float
ing about in the life preservers they
steod poor chance in the terrible sea
that was raging. He saw several per-
SONS torn out of preSeryerS by the viO-
lence of the waves, and go down never
to reappear. There was little Shrieking
or confusion. ''The next morning."
continued Stone, Il was left alone on
the raft, the others all having been
overcome by the cold and fallen off. l
saw steamer approaching from the
north.
WAVED Ny HANDKERCHIEF FRAN
TICALLY,
hoping to attract the attention of the
steamer, but she passed by about half
mile away. | thought my fate was
washing over the raft, taxing my rapidly
failing strength to the utmost to hold
on. The sea began going down on Sat
urday and the water stopped washing
over the raft. This gave me no relief
from the cold, as | was wet through and
frOst-bitten, but was no longer in danger
of being swept Off. | was about over
come with fatigue, hunger and
cold when the schooner POmeroy
picked me up. l think the cause of
the disaster can never be known, as l
am probably the only survivor. When
| aWoke the steamer was sinking and |
had only time to get outside before she
went down. i think most of the people
on board went down with her. 1t is
likely that her machinery gave out and
she got in the trough of the sea and her
side was stove in by a wave. | am not
certain that her engines gave out, but
she lay in the trough of the sea when
she sunk. The top of the cabin was
forced off when she went down and
few people climbed upon it, but it soon
broke up"
1t was o'clock yesterday morning
when Stone was picked up. The dead
man was the other fireman The other
six on the little raft died of exposure,
the steward dying two hours after going
on the raft. Stone does not remember
the names of any of the persons on the
raft with him.
FROM ANOTHER CORRESPONDENT.
STUrGEoN BAY, Wis, Nov. Up to
the arrival of the schooner POmerOy,
from Chicago, which passed through the
bay to-day, it was supposed that not
single survivor was left of the forty OF
fifty people on board the propeller Yer
non, which went down Off ShebOygan
early last Saturday morning. 1t is now
known, however, that at least one man
lives to tell the tale of that terrible night
on Lake Michigan. The POmerOy has
on board the only survivor, so far as is
now known, of that awful disaster. The
name of the man who has thus been res
cued from death after he had given up
all hope of ever again setting his foot
upon dry land, is Alfred Stone,
of Chicago. one of the VernOn's crew.
He had been in the water sixty hours,
exposed to bitter piercing wind, and
without bite to eat, when the Pomeroy
discovered him on raft last night
about eight miles from ShebOygan. 1t
was a clear, moonlight night. Stone
was SO cold as TO be almost helpless,
scarcely move. Although still very
weak from the effects of his awful eX-
perience, Stone was able to make
brief statement of the never-to-be-for-
COTTON night. II was awakened in the
middle of the night" he says, "by the
cries of the passengers and crew that
the vessel was sinking. / sprang out
of the window and found myself ON a
life raft with six other persons. l can
not say now who my companions were.
Part Of them were
AIMEBERS OF THE CREW
and part were passengers. 1t seemed
only moment before the vessel had
gone down, and | believe that all but a
few of those on board went down with
her. | do not know Just how many peO-
could not have been far from
fifty. We passed through an awful |
night. L think / never saw such sea
as that which tossed our little raft at its |
mercy. When daylight came we hoisted |
a signal of distress. using coat tied to |
an oar. Two vessels passed so near us |
that they must have seen our
signal, yet for some reason they appar- |
emily made no effort to reach us. The |
storm still ragged and it may be that they |
had all they could do to save themselves. |
''One after another of my companions
perished in the cold or was washed off
the raft when they became too numb
with the cold to hold ON any longer. We
never saw any others from the sunken
steamer, and don't believe any others
survived. The vessel went down so
that the crew hadn't time to
man the boats.''
When Stone was picked up there was
the corpse of one man on the raft with
him, the other four having perished
several hours before. Stone says this
man was one of the crew whose name
he does not know.
A tug that went: :out to search for the
bodies of the lost VernOn's crew and
passengert to-day picked up two floaters.
They were evidently members of the
crew. but unidentified. One of them
was in the water in perpendicular posi-
ton, being held up by life preserver
hat had slipped up under his head. The